The Skycutter Conflict
ssThe Skycutter Conflict was a state of geopolitical tension within Alderwood, Khanduras. It all began when Skycutter, an ancient angelic weapon, marked its location upon a great plateau on the outskirts of the city. Conflict escalated after four powers took up arms to 'guard' the heavenly sword, including the three great houses of Alderwood and a task force assembled by Alec Kylar. The first phase of the conflict began one week after the discovery of Skycutter on January 15th. Alec and the Rune Rogues, shadow denizens of the surrounding region, consolidated its control over the plateau, while the noble houses of Alderwood began a strategy of regional containment to challenge one another, extending military and financial aid to claiming the angelic weapon. As weeks passed, assassinations and proxy fights eventually broke out within the region; puppet leaders were hired or coerced from surrounding hill tribes and mercenary factions. During the climax of the conflict, Alec and Maxmillian assembled a large force and launched an assault on the remaining belligerents, and the sword itself was eventually claimed by the latter on July 22nd after a skirmish upon the plateau. Many of the denizens of Alderwood rejoiced after the sword's departure in the hands of Maxmillian, as it had ultimately caused more devastation than harmony. Skycutter was brought to the Skovos Isles for the Oracle caste to study and protect, and in return rewarded Maxmillian with an Askari bride. The conflict created a long series of ramifications in the years following, the most notable was the inception of a strict religious committee to govern the city after the crumble of the major noble houses that left behind political and social unrest. Following an uprising by strict religious fanatics and warrior zealots for control over Alderwood, high priests implemented traditional rights. During the conflict, Warren Corbray returned from exile and united the vassal houses of Alderwood and removed the corrupt Zakarum influence from the city. However, William's return forced House Corbray into a civil war fought between Corbray loyalists and Hans' personal followers. History The stage was set for war when Skycutter fell from the High Heavens in the late night of Janurary 7th on the outskirts of Alderwood. Who or what caused the sword to fall from the sky remains unclear, and the former owner is unknown. The Skycutter landed conveniently upon a plateau on a hill overseeing Alderwood. Alec Kylar later speculated that the sword was lost and that its presence had no real purpose, thus he sought to bring it to the Oracle Cast - which has experience with angelic artifacts - for study and safe keeping. The value of the Skycutter came with it landed within the boulder upon the plateau, which was adjacent to the Alder Lake. Drawing its energies from the infinite angelic artifact, the Alder Lake began acting as a mystical fount, sending its potent energies out across the surrounding land to nourish life in all its wondrous forms. The only downside was that the sword was unmovable. Also, the waters from the lake, when consumed, aided the citizens of Alderwood in sickness and health, which in turn sparked interest from the three major noble houses of the city. The Discovery In the early morning of Janurary 8th, a group of peasents passing by Alder Lake drank from the water and immediately felt its mystical powers. There after, a farmer named Jedd discovered the Skycutter while passing through the road that lead over the plateau. He attempted to remove the angelic sword from the boulder but to no prevail, alas he returned to Alderwood to inform the constables. Obsessed with the weapon he found, Jedd claimed the mysterious sword as his own since he found it and lead a party of citizens to its location, among them Terji Joensen who took notice of Jedd's desire. fought and won against his rival hilltribes. His rise in power and his affiliation to Lord Jerald made him a key figure.]] During this period, two major factors occurred that fueled the coming conflict, the first was the rise in social power of the mysterious warrior priest known as The Red Hand who influenced Lord Damon Lothston as a puppet leader; together, both local leaders converted followers of Zakarum and members of House Lothston into devout soldiers of faith. The faith militant, lead by The Red Hand, took an open and bold interest in the Skycutter, alas their preaching was heard in all corners of the city. The second concurrent factor was the uniting of several small regional hill tribes under Chieftain Roklar, a renowned warrior who possessed great cunning and brutality; Roklar had held a long, secret non-aggressive pact with Lord Jerald Dunn many years prior and both men occasional worked together in mischievous plots. The farmer Jedd was later executed by members of House Dunn when he attempted to claim the sword from the stone, but it was discovered that Skycutter was unmovable. The Great Houses of Lothston and Corbray opposed Lord Jerald for the execution. When a heated debate turned into a bloody brawl between Lord Jerald and Lord Winston upon the plateau, Alec and his Rune Rogues broke up the conflict. Within days, all three Great Houses had positioned themselves upon the plateau as well as the fields based beneath. House Lothston soon gained the support of the townsfolk when The Red Hand propagated that Skycutter belonged in possession of the Zakarum faith, agitating House Dunn and Corbray. After nearly a week of segregation and unrest, all three Houses prepared for the brink of war whilst the Rune Rogues cemented their role as regulators. Phase One executes Lord Edward during the purge of House Varela. This brutal act coerced House Reyes into supporting House Dunn.]] Hostilities began in the early morning on Janurary 15th, one week after Jedd's discovery of Skycutter. House Dunn drew first blood when Lord Jerald sent ten of his finest assassins, including prolific serial killer Grazer, to raid and slaughter members of House Varela. Opposing Lord Jerald was Lord Edward of House Varela who betrayed fealty to House Dunn and switched sides to House Corbray. The inception of this brutal action was sparked by Lord Jerald's informants catching wind of the conspiracy before House Varela publicly declared their allegiance. In the dead of night, Grazer and his comrades purged all but Lord Edward, who cursed House Dunn for their cutthroat politics and dishonorable tactics; Grazer then proceeded to stab Edward multiple times and left the corpses of House Varela in the family mansion. The next day, after learning of the purge of House Varela, House Reyes and their bannermen swore fealty to House Dunn in fear that they would face the same fate. Meanwhile, Sir Moritz Vajda renounced his faith in the Zakarum after he accused Damon Lothston of being a puppet leader of the Red Hand. As a result, Moritz and his beautiful wife Jayna of House Rainlore, a vassal to House Corbray, were sentenced to death for heresy by the Red Hand. Before being burned at the stake upon the plateau of the Skycutter, in which the Red Hand and his followers viewed as a human sacrifice, Jayna was able to send word via courier to her family of her imminent death. Moritz and Jayna were brutally executed during the hour of the wolf; a metal mask with sharp spikes on the inside was placed over faces of Moritz and Jayna and hammered into their flesh before being burned. (left) and her husband (right) are captured and later executed by The Red Hand and his Faith Militant. House Corbray responded by declaring war on House Lothston.]]Following the Purge of House Varela and the executions of Moritz and Jayna, House Corbray declared war against House Dunn and House Lothston for their 'barbaric and belligerent actions' and summoned their bannermen on Janurary 17th. Lord Jerald immediately responded later that day by capturing, torturing and beheading Lord Winston's squire, a boy of twelve, and mounting his head on a pike outside his mansion. Elsewhere, Lord Damon assembled all the community leaders within the Zakarum church to reform the faith militia; this process enforced a multitude of religious laws in a state of clericalism and commoners began focusing their attention on the religion. Aside from war and politics, the Skycutter brought harmony among the denizens of Alderwood, as many commoners and lowborn were rejoiced to find the positive affects of the Skycutter; water became more accessible and pure, sicknesses and illnesses faded over night, and crops and plants bloomed to maximum efficiency, etc. Though the occasional bloodshed and violence occurred in dark corners of the city, most of the citizens took little heed to the coming war as most were too occupied with their newfound prosperity. The mayor preferred that the conflict remain outside the city, and that the belligerents involved at claiming the sword do not interfere with the well-being and safety of the denizens. watches over the city of Alderwood as a silent guardian, aiming to keep the citizens safe from bloodshed during the Skycutter Conflict.]]On Janurary 27th, the belligerents began marking their claim upon the plateau, but Alec Kylar and his group, the Rune Rogues, made it there first and negotiated a peace treaty among the lords of Alderwood and that weekly occupation of the plateau would be spread evenly among the belligerents: House Dunn would have rights on Monday and Tuesday, House Corbray on Wednesday and Thursday, and House Lothston on Friday and Saturday. Sunday would not only belong to Alec and his associates but also a truce between all belligerents would commence for the entirety of the day. While proxy skirmishes and rival fights happened daily within the streets of Alderwood, no actual battles took place during the first phase of the war. Lord Jerald stonewalled his enemies except for Alec, as he feared the Dark Templar and the rumors of his origins. Jerald also capitalized during the initial idleness by buying out all the smiths and weapon makers in the city. Lastly, Jerald held secret meetings with Chieftain Roklar of the hilltribes and established a war pact between his noblehouse and Roklar's wildlings. Meanwhile, Lord Damon and the Red Hand focused primarily on herding the common folk into the fold and gaining their support in the war by declaring that the Skycutter rightfully belonged to the Zakarum church, in doing so named Lord Winston and Lord Jerald as infidels. Witnessing the powerful uprisings from Houses Dunn and Lothston, Lord Winston focused less so on numbers and resources and rather more so on political power by gathering a majority of the vassal houses to his side. Alas, the table was set when Lord Jerald held sway over resources and information, Lord Winston held sway over strength and unity, and Lord Damon held sway over politics and large numbers. As the three major belligerents continued their struggle over the realm, Alec marked and regulated all the territories of Alderwood as an acting arbiter; this aloud the Rune Rogues to sway the tide of war to the side they chose and provide accredited diplomacy between all the factions involved in the conflict. Whenever and wherever a dispute occurred, Alec and the Rune Rogues did their best to defuse the situation. Before long Alec aligned himself with the constables of Alderwood in an effort to increase neighborhood watch. In the following weeks after the conflict began, word spread to the neighboring cities of the Skycutter's sudden arrival; many travelers from all corners of Khanduras journeyed to the city to see the spectacle of the Skycutter, and to drink from the Alder Lake for healing. Despite their differences and conflict, all three major houses of Alderwood made the unanimous decision to tax citizens and travelers for accessing the lake's newfound energees. As for the Skycutter itself, no one outside the peace agreement was aloud to visit or go near the artifact upon the plateau; unwanted trespassers were often times captured, heavily fined or forced to leave, and in rare occasions were killed or publicly executed by any of the Great Houses. The Riot of Alderwood Tension grew daily as the lords of each major house sought ways of eliminating their enemies. When the murders, brawls and assassinations began spilling from the alleys and into the streets, the citizens of Alderwood began growing weary of the violence and imminent battle. Feburary 24th marked the first major skirmish in broad daylight on the city street between forces of Sir Marklin Vanko, vassal to House Corbray, and Sir Robert Avril, vassal to House Lothston. Later that same day, another fight broke out in the market place that resulted in several deaths including three inocent civilians who were mistaken during the fight as belligerents. Upon learning of the deaths of innocents, Alec Kylar and his Rune Rogues began enforcing strict regulations during nighttime. He started by confronting Sir Marklin and Lord Winston, inducing them to keep the violence off the streets. While Lord Winston agreed to Alec's regulation, Sir Marklin remained reluctant to trust Alec due to his mysterious nature. Meanwhile, the Rune Rogues intercepted several planned assassination attempts on several key figures such as the Red Hand and Lady Leona from Lord Jerald's minions on the following night. By Feburary 28th all three major houses remained armed and suited for imminent attacks. is assassinated by Lord Jerald amidst the chaos. His sudden demise initially went unnoticed, but many suspected the latter's involvement.|left]] On Feburary 29th, a citywide riot took place within the city plaza, later known as the Riot of Alderwood. Shortly prior to its inception, Lord Winston summoned all his followers to the town plaza to address the citizens of Alderwood in an open forum. He declared that House Corbray would no longer entice violence in the city so long as the citizens abide by martial law. Lord Winston also honored the three deceased citizens who died the previous week. However, a loud minority of zealous citizens began to jape and jest at Lord Winston, Sir Marklin and Lady Leona as "heretics!", "betrayers!", and "enemies of the Zakarum!" which sparked a bold reaction from House Corbray's procession. Among the crowd was Lord Damon and his bannermen as well as Lord Jerald and his enforcers. As the mob taunted Lord Winston, Lord Robert of House Avril stepped up and provoked Lady Leona of her niece's recent demise at the hands of the Red Hand - who's current whereabouts remained unknown at the time - by calling Jayna a "betrayer of the light!" and thus prompted a sudden stand-off between both nobles. The conflict quickly escalated when Lord Jerald announced from the crowd that Robert would surely win in a match against a woman, which in turn prompted the crowd to cheer for Robert. In the heat of the moment, Sir Marklin seized an opportunity to slay Lord Robert from behind by cutting his neck open for insulting the Lady of House Rainlore; this angered the crowd and shouted curses showered down on the party, further inflaming the situation. In response to his murder, members of House Avril began preparing for a fight. The Riot of Alderwood began when an unknown person from the crowd, many speculated to be the Red Hand in disguise, threw a burning bible at Lord Winston. When the object struct him and caught his cloak on fire, his personal guards drew their weapons and began cutting down the mob that surrounded them. Lord Jerald and his enforces immediately withdrew from the crowd, and during the chaos they managed to assassinate Lord Lorent Powell without being seen among the chaos. Meanwhile, Lord Winston's younger half-brother Hans and the bannermen carved a path through the mob with their swords, barely managing to rush Lord Winston, Lady Leona and Lord Hyle and rest of the procession to the security of their mansion. Sir Marklin and his followers stayed behind to continue fighting in an flagrant act of insubordination and belligerence. Meanwhile, Alec remained occupied at the plateau when Sir Athyn, master-at-arms of House Dunn, organized an uprising against the bannermen of House Corbray that were stationed with the Skycutter. Sir Athyn and several of his followers began by successfully staging a coup against the soldiers who watched over the plateau. Anticipating the Dark Templar, Athyn eventually gained the upper hand by catching Alec off guard with the use of a spellblade, only for Athyn to be impaled from behind by Taylor and later executed by Alec. Shortly following the failed coup by Sir Athyn, Alec and Taylor observed rising tension between the Faith Militant and the Hilltribes on the outskirts of the plateau that transgressed into a light skirmish with minimal losses. (left) faces off against Lord Damon (right).|left]] The riot went on for several hours, and almost half the population of the city participated. Sir Willem Grandison rallied the Rune Rogues and constables in a counter-attack against a fraction of the mob that had set fire to the Mayor's Mansion and several other buildings. Remaining in the riot was Sir Marklin and a dozen of his soldiers cutting down citizens, regardless if they were belligerent or innocent; his brutality made him a public enemy for the entirety of the riot. Marklin's group targeted several key figures during the riot, including Lord Damon and the Red Hand who were attempting to flee from the chaos. At one point during the riot Sir Marklin and Lord Damon crossed blades in a duel before the latter retreated to safety. Overall, Marklin's bloodlust proved devastating, leaving trails of bodies along the street and creating more destruction than restoration. Eventually Alec and the Rune Rogues began shifting their focus away from the mobs and onto the slayers commanded by Sir Marklin. House Rainlore also secretly played a small part in the chaos, carrying out half-a-dozen assassinations on members of the Faith Militant as retaliation for their direct part in the execution of Jayna. The Zakarum leaders on orders of the Red Hand proved successful at containing the riot, but Marklin responded by attempting to launch a swift attack on the Red Hand outside the church. When a large mob of zealous citizens and members of the Faith Militant surrounded and attacked Marklin's group, Marklin did a suicide run to kill the Red Hand, but failed when Alec intercepted him. Widespread looting, arson, and killings occurred during the riot, and all three major houses suffered damage and disarray. Order was only restored later that day after members of the Rune Rogues intervened against the brutal assaults and the religious leaders of the Faith Militia spoke out to calm the angry mobs. The mayor of Alderwood was found murdered and mutilated in an alleyway by unknown assailants after the riot was over. Forty-eight people in total died during the riot and many others were injured or raped. Phase Two Bloodshed and unrest occurred for several days following the Riot of Alderwood, eventually leading to the first major battle on the outskirts of the city fought between the Faith Militia and Roklar's wildlings. Alec and the Rune Rogues participated in fighting near the end of the battle and witnessed Roklar's brutality and merciless killings. Ultimately, Roklar proved triumphant over the plateau and was able to seize control over the land for a short duration. Later on, Alec and the Rune Rogues rendezvoused back at the city to rally mercenaries to help regulate the city as replacement for the constables who died during the riots. Ultimately, the rise in law-abiding constables fueled a bitter rivalry between them and Lord Jerald's street thugs. The city remained lawless and ungoverned for several weeks due to the Mayor's death and the fire that burned down city hall. Overtime, a system of councilmen were assigned to rule over the city as the war raged on. The fires from the riot took nearly two weeks to burn out, and within that duration many traveling mercenaries ventured to the city for potential work. Among the new comers was a fraction of the Fighters Guild, lead by Lawbringer Beaumont, brought in by the neighboring city of Carmarthen on Alec Kylar's request. Where order had broken down, where cruelty and lawlessness ruled, Beaumont brought justice to the denizens of Alderwood. For the remainder of the war he focused his efforts and resources solely on aiding the city, leaving the Skycutter to the fate of the noble houses. Having met and fought along side Alec Kylar during Oricon Crisis, Beaumont and his brigade took to the streets of Alderwood alongside Alec and the Rune Rogues wherever injustice occured. beheads Grazer, a convicted killer. Beaumont brought swift justice to Alderwood following the riots by keeping violence off the streets.]]The conflict quickly transitioned into a war of aggresion; several concurrent events occurred during the first week of March as all three major belligerents fought to claim the Skycutter's plateau: Lord Winston faced political turmoil and was heavily criticized by several partisans for the mayor's death and the blood lust of his former right-hand Marklin. Meanwhile, Lord Damon alongside the Red Hand and the Faith Militant faced a major set back after their loss against the Hilltribes. As for Lawbring Beaumont, he succeed at recruiting partisans to his brigade, many of them tasked at the responsibility of keeping the fighting away from the city with aggressive force. Beaumont's pressence lead to the downfall of Lord Jerald's spy network that once conquered the streets, allowing House Dunn to gain crucial access to all information regarding his rivals. Multiple battles waged on every week in intervals, and while most ended in standoffs or with minimal losses eventually the escalation of bloodshed forced all three noble houses in the conflict to have a parley meeting on April 2nd. Alec was met with mixed criticism, as he was both adored and despised by Winston, Jerald and Damon. This made him careful to regulate the parley session, and at noon he met all three representatives of the house in person to conduct negotiations; because Alec was an outside and had no loyalties to anyone, he was favored as a chief diplomat during the entirety of the conflict. Alec's efforts at diplomacy aloud all three lords to unanimously agree to resort back to weekly visiting distributed to each factions in fair amount of days; all of them also agreed that all warfare was to take place outside the city, ceasing all bloodshed within the city walls. The following day, the councilmen concurred with the parley and declared that all hostiles would be detained and face justice by Lawbring Beaumont. Following the Parley of April 2nd, all fighting ceased inside the city due to the combined efforts of the city council, which only lead to more battles outside the city. A group of warriors from the north, known as The Highlanders, entered the conflict and began terrorizing travelers along the trade routes to Alderwood. Lord Winston dispatched his bannermen to deal with The Highlanders, but Chieftain Roklar on secret orders from Lord Jerald made it to the group first and assimilated them into their ranks. The Highlanders remained unchecked for many weeks, their killings on helpless innocents heavily condemned by all three major factions. With the Highlanders backed back Chieftain Roklar, and Roklar secretly working for Lord Jerald, conflict greatly increased when all three noble houses and their bannermen attempted to capture them, leading to several skirmishes that eventually resulted in massive. Alas, the Battle of Townsend began on April 21st; it became the biggest and bloodiest battle during the conflict, lasting several days and expanding across the entire valley that lay dormant to Skycutter's plateau. Nearly all belligerents participated in the battle including The Hilltribes, The Faith Militant and several Alderwood bannermen from all three major factions. .]]After nearly a week of fighting, Lord Hyle and his infantry retreated back to Alderwood where they rendezvoused with their allied Lord Winston and his remaining bannermen, as well as the Rune Rogues. A final fight took place on April 26th at the base of the plateau with large casualties on all sides. The biggest causality during the battle however was Lord Winston during a pincer movement from both rival factions. Despite Lord Winston's death, the remaining followers of House Corbray, now under Sir Hans' leadership, achieved victory with the aid of Lord Hyle and a temporary alliance to the Rune Rogues; The Highlanders were captured or killed and Roklar retreated with only a small fraction of his forces back into the wilderness. Lord Hyle was ultimately rewarded by the councilmen for putting an end to The Highlanders and Lord Winston's funeral was held several days later. Fighting ceased for nearly two weeks following the major battle, allowing most of the belligerents to recuperate at Alderwood, lick their wounds and regain their manpower through hiring local mercenaries. With Lord Winston dead, a power struggle occured between his son Warren and his half-brother Hans for who should rule House Corbray. All three major houses used a vast amount of resources for recruitment and nourishment for the wounded. Daily visits to Skycutter's plateau continued, and each faction kept the peace when it came to guarding the ancient artifact. During this period of peace, denizens of Alderwood were aloud rest and rejuvenation. However, traveling warriors continued to enter the city with each passing day, and before long every man or woman with a weapon was hired by one of the three major factions. during the Melee on Wolfborn Street. He later met his demise after he and his forces became out numbered by Lord Jerald's enforcers.]]On April 29th, Alec and a fraction of his Rune Rogues left Alderwood to journey north to Entsteig and summon his allies. Lord Jerald took Alec's departure as an immediate opportunity to rebuild his spy network and seized his opportunity by coordinating a large scale kidnapping of all the councilmen's children in an event called The Alderewood Abudctions, a bold act that coerced Lawbringer Beaumont and his brigade of constables to concede the city streets at the request of the councilmen. On May 7th, Jerald answered the summons of the councilmen and attended a formal meeting with them; he was met with inflammatory remarks and threats by his peers, the child abductions being the sole focus on the meeting. After the meeting was over, with no progress or agreements established, the councilmen were left hopeless of ever seeing their children against unless the war was won in favor of Lord Jerald. Violence returned within the city walls for several days when Lord Jerald's enforcers brutalized known constables with coerced impunity. Lawbringer Beaumont responded to these attacks by launching a night raid against the enforcers that inhabited a city, and soon a city wide manhunt commenced for the children hostages. Lord Jerald refused to back down to Beaumont's counter-attacks, his enforcers mutilating and murdering one of the councilmen's daughters. On May 13th, after several hours of apprehending Jerald's thugs the night before, Lawbringer Beaumont and his constables were ambushed in the early morning. Known as the Melee on Wolfborn Street, Lord Jerald's forces completed annihilated the city constables and partisans commanded by Beaumont; Alderwood entered a citywide panic after several buildings caught fire as a result of the fight, and later that same day Beaumont received a mock trail from Lord Jerald at the main plaza that turned into a slow, torturous execution. Jerald's victory would had been swift if not for Lord Orys' neutrality in the fight, having lost faith in his liege lord for his kidnappings. After House Dunn's victory, Lord Jerald visited Lord Orys and persuaded him to retain loyalty by releasing half the child hostages. The councilmen remained desperate for help after Beaumont's death, and thus turned to House Lothston and their allies The Faith Militant for aid. Lord Damon, seeking to turn the councilmen into his allies, obliged their request to capture Lord Jerald and rescue the child hostages. Lord Damon spearheaded special operations within the city and organized his finest soldiers to focus on capturing or killing highly dangerous individuals or groups of individuals that worked under Lord Jerald. Jerald responded drastically by going into hiding and ordering the execution of the councilmen's children. discovers the abducted children recently deceased, thus ending his search campaign to rescue them.]]The children's deaths unfolded a series of events that meticulously changed the war: Lord Orys took over leadership of House Dunn and created a coalition force, the councilmen dissolved and the streets remained lawless while Lord Jerald remained in hiding, and House Corbray continued its struggle against the Faith Militant under House Lothston and Roklar's hilltribes. Fighting within the fields continued for weeks whilst the struggle to maintain dominance over Skycutter's plateau resulted in each faction holding power for short intervals before losing it again. The King's Court lies dead after being poisoned by Lord Jerald. Orys' murder was a cover up for Jerald's secret alliance to Chieftain Roklar.]] Phase Three Upon Alec's return to Alderwood, he used what resources he had to begin a search for the incognito Jerald. Meanwhile, Hans sought to exile his nephew Warren who claimed himself the rightful Lord of House Corbray but was to young to fulfill the title, leading him to conspire with Alec to banish the young heir from Alderwood forever. The Bride of the Askari On June. Showdown at Skycutter Plateau